The Horror of the Unknown: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti

Excellent review on Electric Lit, written by David Peak:

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According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Thomas Ligotti now ranks as one of ten living writers whose work has been published in a Penguin Classics paperback. One of ten. This is significant for two reasons. First, Penguin is the preeminent publisher of what common consensus dictates as “classic literature.” They have unparalleled distribution, and copies of Ligotti’s books haven’t always been so easy to track down. In fact, the only way I was originally able to read his debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, was through an interlibrary loan—and that was just a few years ago. In that sense, they have done readers a great service. The second reason this is significant? I don’t know how to say this without being blunt, but it’s nearly unthinkable to see the work of a contemporary horror writer treated with such gravity. I don’t think I’m being provocative by saying this, but the horror genre is, more often than not, maligned by the publishing industry.

Re: The Horror of the Unknown: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligot

This does my heart well to see in my lifetime. I seriously thought it would be 2060 before people started taking Ligotti's work with the seriousness and respect and awe it deserves. And that's best case scenario. I thought Vandermeer was more realistic in his estimate of a century from now in the intro. Know Jeff didn't mean it that way but when I read it I was like "Yup, sounds about a fair estimate." I'm also heartened to hear this because I, like many others here, can still remember when all of this was HEAVY underground. I tend to not care whether something is mainstream or not, I just want something that resonates with me, resonates with who I feel I am. Lovecraft was the first to do that. Ligotti was the second and by far the closest to what I feel like inside. That feeling of outsider-ness and that something is terribly, terribly wrong with the world and it seem like only I a) see it and b) give a s*#t. Not the most eloquent exposition of Ligotti's intended effect but as I've said before here, his work came at a very, very hard time in my life and literally saved my life, saved my sanity paradoxically by agreeing with the insanity of the world I experienced. Sorry for the rambling but all this is to say that this review, along with the other recent ones that have come out circa the Penguin Press edition do me much good inside. Don't think that matters in terms of literary significant or sales but it means the world to me and I'm truly appreciative of the much deserved reception Ligotti is currently receiving and we all knew he deserved.

Ligotti has long been a cult horror writer with a small but dedicated following. However, his nihilistic cosmic horror (think Lovecraft with less adventure and monsters and more existential dread) broke into the public consciousness when the first season of True Detective used his writings as the basis for much of Rust Cohle's dialogue. This year, Ligotti became one of only a handful of living authors to have a Penguin Classics edition of his work when they reprinted his first two books as a single volume.